Friday, January 11, 2008

Movie review: The Bucket List

Not quite dead on arrival, but limping along in that direction.

By John P. Meyer

The Bucket List

Two terminally ill men try to fulfill a wish list known as "The Bucket List" before each kicks the bucket. After they break out of a cancer ward, they head off on a road trip with an itinerary that includes racing cars, eating giant plates of caviar and slinging poker chips in Monte Carlo.

Source: Cinema Source

• Showtimes and more on The Bucket List

It's impossible not to appreciate the onscreen acting talent of two Hollywood greats, regardless of the material they're working from. (We're talking Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman here, folks - they don't get much greater.) And from a directing standpoint, Rob Reiner has churned out some pretty outstanding films, starting with This Is Spinal Tap and including Stand by Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally and A Few Good Men.

But what's director Reiner produced for big screen consumption this century? Well, that would be Alex & Emma ('03) and Rumor Has It ('05). (Yeah, me neither.)

In The Bucket List, what we have are two old codgers in dire straits. One - Carter Chambers (played by Mr. Freeman) - is a middle-class, struggling-to-pay-his-bills auto mechanic who's succeeded in marrying a wonderful woman, raising some respectful kids and putting them through college; he now faces the diagnosis of terminal cancer with at least that much having gone right for him.

Edward in a good mood - talking about money, probably

Edward Cole (Mr. Nicholson), on the other hand, takes similar medical news with a great deal less aplomb - he's been divorced more times than he cares to remember and has only one daughter, and he's been estranged from her since a bitter argument years ago. On the bright side, he's made (and kept) millions of dollars by managing hospitals with a bent towards frugality: for instance, the policy of all his hospitals is that everyone shares a room, regardless of circumstances - which of course comes back to haunt him when he's forced to inhabit one of his own medical facilities, thereby making the acquaintance of Carter Chambers.

The two naturally dislike each other at first - per formula - with the most demonstrable dislike emerging on the part of Edward. (Wouldn't it be refreshing in one of these films for the paired-up grizzled old-timers to take to each other right off the bat? Refreshing, though of course lacking in dramatic/comedic tension: can't have it both ways, I suppose...) As grim medical events play themselves out, Edward predictably comes to depend upon the chemotherapy-canny ways of Carter, and the two strike a brothers-in-arms sort of bond.

Enter the rather looming problem with this whole production: these are exceedingly grim events the two men are going through. It's a bit tough even for sophisticated audiences to find the upside humor value in the uncontrollable ralphing that results from Edward's first chemo session. Similarly, when - later in the proceedings - Carter begins bleeding onto his shirt front because of a chest tube malfunction, this puts a rather brutal damper on the hijinks the two old gents are getting up to in some exclusive rooftop restaurant somewhere in Asia. I suppose this is what's known as gallows humor, or maybe tragi-comedy, but - man - a little goes a rather long way in my book.

Looks like the list is almost complete. (Good thing, too.)

Moving right along, Carter and Edward - from their shared hospital room - devise the titular list of things they want to do before they each kick the bucket, and since one of the pair happens to be a gazillionaire, they're free to set off on a quicky quest to actually do the things enumerated before - well - dying a painful and debilitating death. (Humor and cheeriness going right out the dang window again - sorry, folks.)

The middle part of the film consists of madcap sequences of Edward and Carter sitting atop pyramids (did these fatally-ill old guys actually climb up there?), riding bikes on the Great Wall of China, driving race-worthy stock cars, skydiving, expeditioning in the Serengeti... you get the idea. This segment is loaded with non-stop wisecracking, much of it pretty funny, some of it even wise. We're treated to extreme close-ups of both actors of the sort that are usually reserved for younger, less weather-beaten complexions; perhaps Mr. Reiner was going for character study.

As manipulative and contrived as this whole thing is, let's dole out credit where it's due: we (the audience) for the most part laugh when we're supposed to laugh and cry when crying is called for - it's a slick enough production, mechanically. And I suppose if you didn't already get it that you only go around once so you might as well grab all the gusto you can - well, this movie might start you thinking in that direction.

Carter at the bar.

Notable in support of the two acting heavyweights is Sean Hayes as Thomas, Edward Cole's long-suffering put-upon assistant, who refuses to shrink from either the verbal abuses of his pig-headed boss or the uncomfortable necessity of carrying out his duties. The delectable Rowena King gracefully inhabits a cameo as a miraculously-willing potential one-night-stand for Carter, who cozies up to her (conversationally) in a Hong Kong hotel bar.

The resolution of events, it should be said, is quite satisfactory, even though things do get tied all up in a neat little bow - it'll leave you weeping through the credits, unless you're made of sterner stuff than this humble reviewer.

NOT A BAD OUTCOME: "When he died his eyes were closed and his heart was open." - Carter Chambers, re. Edward Cole

COULDN'T HAVE SAID IT BETTER: "I'm not dead yet." - Edward, just before hoisting himself off the hospital gurney and tumbling onto the floor next to his bed.

"How about now?" - Thomas

LUCKY BASTARD: "Somewhere, some lucky guy's having a heart attack." - Edward, after starting chemotherapy

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